DOS Command Reference

Introduction Some course material on the Teaching Network may still use
the command line operating system called DOS (Disk
Operating System). This requires the user to type specific
commands at a prompt.

You may also need to use this system, for example, when
changing your password, and you can enter DOS by choosing
'MS-DOS Prompt' from the Public menu on the taskbar.

Command Format Commands can be typed in response to the network DOS

prompt:

G:\>

Commands may be typed in upper or lower case. Here, they

are specified in upper case to distinguish them from other
input.

Commands have a particular format. Some can be used

simply by typing the command name only, as in:

DIR

which displays a listing of files in the current directory.

Parameters Many commands can take extra information called

parameters to make them more specific, For example, the
COPY command can have a parameter specifying a file to be
copied and a parameter specifying a file to which the copy is to
be made. So the command would look like this:

COPY filea fileb

In this case, filea would be the name of a file to copy from

and fileb would be the name of a file to copy to.

Parameters can sometimes be omitted in which case a default

action will apply.

Options Commands can also be qualified by the use of options. Options

are preceded by a / sign. A simple example of the use of an
option is with the DIR command. DIR can be qualified by /P or
/W. Thus the commands:

DIR
DIR /W
DIR /P

result in listings presented in a different format as detailed

later.

DOS Command Reference 1

 Some Useful DOS Commands

COPY Make a copy of a file or merge files together.

COPY original-file destination-file

where original-file and destination-file are file

names, separated by a space.

The command can be used to merge several files into one file
since the original-file parameter can be a list of
filenames separated by the + symbol. For example:

COPY file1 + file2 file3

would copy file1 and file2 into file3.

Note that the file names used in the copy command must
include the file extension if it exists. So if you were copying a
fortran program called first.for, for example, you would
need to include the .for extension in the filename.

DEL Delete a file.

DEL filename

where filename is the name of the file to be deleted. You are

asked to confirm that you really want to delete the file. Note
that the name must include the file extension.

The amount of space on a disk is limited and it is necessary

periodically to tidy up unwanted files. It is possible to use a '*'
character in a filename to match any sequence of characters.
This feature is very useful when deleting unwanted files with
identical extensions. For example, when developing
programs,

DEL *.obj

will delete every binary (.obj) file in the current directory.

Since an .obj file can always be recreated from the original
source program, it is usually unnecessary to keep it.

DIR Obtain a list of the files stored in a directory.

If used without options this command will give a list of files in

the current directory, including any extension (e.g. .for), and
their size.
If used with the option /P, that is:

DIR /P

The same information will be displayed page by page with the

message:

strike a key when ready

at the end of each page.

2 DOS Command Reference

 If it is used with the /W option, i.e.

DIR /W

the listing is of names and extensions only and in a more

compact format across the page.

DISKCOPY Take a security copy of your working disk.

It is very important to have a second copy of your programs

and data in case you lose your disk or it becomes unreadable
for some reason. Use the DISKCOPY command as follows:

DISKCOPY A: A:

where A: denotes the drive the disks will be loaded into. When
a copy of your disk is generated in the computer's memory, the
computer tells you to remove the first or source disk and insert
the disk, which is to become the copy (the target disk).

Insert the target disk and press ENTER. If the second disk is
not formatted it will be formatted automatically. The source
disk should be write protected using the tab in the corner in
case you mistake it for the target disk (see the chapter on
using disks).

LIST Obtain a printed listing of a file.

LIST filename

where filename is the file to be printed. If the printer is busy,

or if you don't need a printed copy, you can use the TYPE
command to view a file on the screen.

You could also use an editor such as DOS Edit to display a file,
in which case, as a bonus, you would then be in a position to
correct any errors you might notice. Remember that the file
name must include the file extension. So if you want to print
your Pascal program called first you would need to use:

LIST first.pas

RENAME Change the name of a file. This command can be abbreviated

to REN:

REN oldname newname

where oldname is the file to be renamed and newname is the

name it is to be given.

Note that files on drives other than the current drive can be
referred to by prefixing the filename by the relevant drive
letter, for example:

A:\filename

where the \ refers to the ‘root’ directory of the drive.

DOS Command Reference 3

 Filenames can also include directories separated by the \
character as in:

A:\dir1\dir2\filename

TYPE View a file on the screen.

TYPE filename

where filename is the name of the file to be displayed on the

monitor screen. If you are looking at a long file, you will need
to press the PAUSE key to stop continuous scrolling. Press the
space bar to continue scrolling when you have read the screen.

To format a floppy disk, place the disk in the floppy drive and
FORMAT type:

FORMAT A:

Note that by default the disk will be formatted to hold about 1.44
megabytes of data.

Warning: formatting will destroy any data on the disk so only

do this once!

DOS Command Listing

In the following section, alternative options are separated by
the ‘!’ character. Arguments are optional unless in italics.
‘cwd’ stands for ‘Current Working Directory’.

DOS commands are not case sensitive. Some commands have

DOS Conventions switches; these must be preceded by a forward slash (/).
Pathnames may be preceded by a drive letter as in
‘X:pathname’ and if no drive or pathname is given the current
directory is assumed.

ATTRIB +!-r +!-a pathname

The Commands display, or set!clear Read-only or
Archive attribute

BREAK on!off
display, or turn on!off increased level of ^C detection

CHDIR (CD) path

display, or change working directory

CHKDSK pathname (A: drive only)

check disk or file logical structure
/f - fixproblems encountered
/v - verbose; displays filespecs

CLS
clear screen

4 DOS Command Reference

COMMAND path cttydev
run nested CLI from path with I/O device cttydev
/e:# - set environment size #
/p - do not invoke another CLI
/c command - run command and then enter

COPY pathname pathname

or
COPY pathname + pathname
copy or concatenate files
/v - verify writes
/a!b - preceding and all subsequent files are ascii!
binary (* filenames in source(s) and target are matched
one-to-one.)

CTTY device
change MS-DOS I/O device

DATE dd-mm-yy
display and/or set date (numerical country-dependent
format)

DEL ! ERASE pathname

delete file(s) - prompts if pathname is *.*

DIR pathname
display directory - filename and/or ext default to *
/p - paginate
/w - multi-column

DISKCOPY drive: drive:

copy disk sector-by-sector rather than file-by-file

EXIT
exit nested CLI

FIND “string” pathname

find and display lines containing string in file
/v - lines NOT containing string
/c - count lines only
/n - display line numbers also

FORMAT drive: (A: drive only)

/1 - single sided
/4 - use double rather than high density (40 tracks)
/8 - use 8 sectors of each track
/n:xx - specifies xx sectors per track
/t:yy - specifies yy tracks
/v - prompt for volume label, up to 11 characters
/f:720 - format at 720 kb

LABEL drive: label (A: drive only)

display, or edit volume label - 11 characters excluding
most specials

MKDIR (MD) path

make directory

DOS Command Reference 5

 MODE
interactively configure various options

MORE
paginates screen output
e.g. type filename | more

PATH path;path;...
display or set command search path(s) to be used after
cwd

PATH;
resets default to cwd only

PROMPT string
reset or set prompt.
Characters (each prefixed by $) mean:
$=$, t=time, d=date, p=cwd, v=version, n=drive,
g=>, l=<, b=!, _=CRLF, s=leading space, e=ESC (for
ANSI driver)

RENAME (REN)pathname pathname

rename file(s) within a drive - wildcards are matched
one-to-one

RMDIR (RD) path

remove empty directory

SET variable=text
display all, set or clear MS-DOS variable - accessed as
%variable%

SHARE
enable networked multi-access file locking
/f:nbytes - nbytes per file, need about 20 bytes per file,
default 2048
/l:nlocks - nlocks per file, default 20

SORT pathname pathname

sort lines of file alphabetically, ignoring case, to file or
stdout; reads stdin by default
/r - reverse order
/+n - on n’th character in each line, default is first

SUBST drive: path (A: drive only)

display substitutions, or substitute path by virtual drive

SYS drive : (A: drive only)

copy hidden MS-DOS .sys files from default drive

TIME hours:minutes
display and/or set time using 24-hour format

TYPE pathname
output contents of a file, with tab spacing of 8

VER
display MS-DOS version

6 DOS Command Reference

 VERIFY on!off
display, or set!clear disk write verification

VOL drive:
display disk volume label

XCOPY pathname pathname

copy directory tree
/a!m - if archive bit set ! also clears in source
/d:date- modified on or after date only
/s!e - copy subdirectories if not empty ! even if empty
/p - prompt
/v - verify
/w - wait for keypress

If renamed to MCOPY it determines automatically whether

target is file or directory.

On-Line Command Help Full details of all DOS commands can be seen by following the
command with the switch /? For example,

DIR /?

gives a listing of all DIR options.

Command Editing DOS commands are stored in a template and previous

commands can be recalled, character by character enabling
editing as required.

The template is accessed by the following keys:-

F1 - get next character from template

F2 C - get characters up to but excluding character C
F3 - get remaining characters from template
del - skip one character in template
F4 C - skip characters up to but excluding character C
ESC - clear command line
INS - toggle overwriting of template
F5 - copy command to template for re-editing
F6 - put ^Z in new template

The arrow keys may also be used to recall the previous

command.

Batch File All DOS commands may be used in batch files. Additionally,
Commands the following commands are useful for more advanced batch
processes.

Arguments for batch files are accessed as ‘%1’ to ‘%9’.

ECHO on!off!message
display echo status, turn echoing on!off (default on)
or display message

FOR %%C IN (SET of items) DO command

C is any character other than 0-9, SET is e.g. list of files

DOS Command Reference 7

 GOTO LABEL
LABEL is any line of text, usually preceded by colon (:)
in first column, which makes MS-DOS ignore it other
than as a label. Terminates if label not found

IF ERRORLEVEL number command

command executed if previous command returned exit
code >= number

IF string1 == string2 command

command executed if strings match
may be negated by NOT before condition

IF EXIST filename command

command executed if file exists
may be negated by NOT before condition

PAUSE comment
comment displayed only if echo on

REM comment
remark - ignored by MS-DOS

SHIFT
shift arguments - allows access to more than 9

Special Characters Several special characters may be used when referring to

directories and files:
\ = root directory or a directory separator
. = current directory
.. = parent directory

Wildcard characters may be used in filenames or extensions:

? = any character
* = any tail or extension
X: - switches to current working directory (cwd) on
drive X.

File Comparison Utility The FC command enables comparison of two files:

FC pathname1 pathname2
compare two files, or two wildcarded sets of files
/a - abbreviate output of ASCII comparison
/b - force binary comparison (byte-by-byte)
/c - ignore case
/L - force ASCII comparison (line-by-line)
/Lb# - use line buffer of # lines
/n - display line numbers in ASCII mode
/t - do not expand tabs - default expands to spacing
of 8
/w - compress white space (tabs and spaces) to
single space (leading or trailing white space
always ignored)
/# - # lines must match to re-synchronize else
regarded different (default is 2)

8 DOS Command Reference

 I/O Control
DOS input and output may be controlled by the following
control key sequences. (^ = the CTRL key).

^C - abort current command

^H - destructive backspace
^J - linefeed - physical newline to input long lines
^N - toggle copying of terminal output to printer
^P - toggle redirection of terminal output to printer
^S - suspend/restart terminal output
^X - cancel current line, and output \-CR-LF
^Z - end of file

I/O Redirection Input and output from commands or programs can be

redirected by using the following symbols:

> send output to...

>> append output to...
< take input from...
| pipe output to next input

For example:
pipe output from command a to input of command b:
command a | command b

send a directory listing to file filename:

DIR > filename

Using The DOS includes a full-screen editor invoked by the EDIT

DOS Editor command (with or without a filename). To use this editor type:

EDIT (filename)

The editor provides pull-down menus, operated by the

keyboard or mouse, and a help facility. Note that any changes
made to a file overwrites the original, no backup is created.

DOS Command Reference 9